Today’s Walk in the Word

Be careful that you do not forget the Lord.                    —Deuteronomy 6:12 The Christmas season tends to value getting above gratitude. So Maxine, a mother of three, came up with a Red-Bow plan. She placed red bows on light switches and water faucets, the washing machine and […]

If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book.                   —Revelation 22:18 When the White House was being refurbished in the early 1900s, workers were cleaning two large entrance doors that had been repeatedly repainted. In readying […]

Trust in the Lord with all your heart.                        —Proverbs 3:5 Shammua. Shaphat. Igal. Palti. Gaddiel. Gaddi. Ammiel. Sethur. Nahbi. Geuel. Recognize those names? How about these? Joshua. Caleb. I’m guessing you’re fuzzy on the first group but well-acquainted with the second. Put them all […]

You will forget the Lord your God.            —Deuteronomy 8:14 God pelted Pharaoh with plagues until he released the Israelite slaves. That was just the beginning of God’s blessings for Israel. He orchestrated their Red Sea escape, protected them from enemies, provided them with food and water, and with clothes that […]

He has given each one of us a special gift.                             —Ephesians 4:7 Alpheus Hardy (1815-1887) had his heart set on becoming a minister. The greatest disappointment of his life was that he couldn’t go to college due to failing health. It […]

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.             —Proverbs 27:17 Jesus attached value to pairs: camaraderie, companionship, support. “Calling the Twelve to him, [Jesus] sent them out two by two” (Mk 6:7). Speaking for the twelve, Peter said to Jesus, “We have left everything to follow you” (Mt […]

When I surveyed . . . what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless.          —Ecclesiastes 2:11 He was seemingly indefatigable: up and at ’em before dawn and still going strong long after dusk. He was a whiz at business—and an infrequent presence at home. “I’m selling out and retiring,” he […]

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess.                                      —Hebrews 10:23 I’m fascinated with Simeon, that devout old man who had been assured he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ (Lk 2:25–26). Simeon […]

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. —Isaiah 40:26 James and Kathryn were living happily in our community when they were abruptly transferred to a remote outpost in Alberta, Canada. I stopped by to spend a night with them when a trip took me their way. As we reminisced, a tear trickled down Kathryn’s […]

Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?    —Numbers 14:3 The Israelites wanted to go back to Egypt. Mentally, they built an Egypt-that-never-was, where they feasted like kings every day, at no cost (Nm 11:5). They were memory-fogged about the real Egypt: a nightmare of slavery and the punishing work of […]